Closed Friday, February 23, 1990 · San Diego, San Diego County, California
Imperial Savings Association
By total assets Imperial Savings Association is the 20th-largest of the 3,375 bank failures since 1934 for which the FDIC records a size, counted in dollars of the day. It was the largest of the 381 bank failures in 1990. Regulators closed 14 banks that day.
On the books, 1984 to 1989
Total assets peaked at $12.4 billion in the third quarter of 1988 and were 23% lower at the final report. Equity capital went from 2.4% of assets in the first quarter of 1984 to below zero at the last report. It reported a net loss in three of its final six reporting years. The deepest annual loss, $300 million, was booked in 1989.
Size against the other 1990 failures
Total assets of each 1990 failure, log scale; Imperial Savings Association in red.
Within California it ranks eighth by size of the 239 failures recorded since 1934. Ranked by estimated loss, it is 193rd of 2,944 failures since 1934. The next-largest failure of that year was Franklin Savings Association of Ottawa, Kansas ($9.3 billion, loss 0.4% of assets). Every 1990 failure in the explorer.
The largest of the others was Mercury Savings and Loan Association of Huntington Beach, California, at $2.2 billion.
Failures in California
In 1990 regulators closed 21 banks in California; this was the sixth. The previous failure there was Western Empire Savings and Loan Association of Yorba Linda, on February 16, 1990. The next was Westport Savings Bank of Hanford, on March 9, 1990. San Diego County has 20 failed banks on FDIC record since 1934. Closest in time: Carver Savings and Loan Association (1989), Rancho Bernardo Savings Bank (1990), Landmark Thrift and Loan Association (1991), Great American Bank, a Federal Savings Bank (1991), Heartland Savings and Loan Association (1991).